Having been in the business for 10+ years, we often get customers new and current requesting modifications to their personal trucks. New light pick up truck purchases have been on the rise the last few years, reaching as high as 16.7% in 2019 and even increased 2% in April 2020 during time of pandemic, factory shutdown, and overall house lockdown.
With the proliferation of trucks on the road, our customers see other trucks and either want to differentiate their truck from others, or even get inspired by another's "build" or "rig".
With that said, there are so many different options for lift kits and body kits that we felt it may be helpful to put together a quick post to go over what we offer. With our partnership with companies like Offroad Warehouse, we can provide industry leading and customer proven "kits" to our customers to easily transform their rigs to meet their hobbyist lifestyle.
All makes and models have options but we will focus on the trucks that we see most - Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ford F-150s, and Nissan Frontiers - unsurprisingly due to how many of these trucks are sold!
Basic Lift or Leveling Kit - up to 3 inches
Either to stay within budget, or to perform a simpler lift or eliminating "rake" (rear of vehicle is higher than front when not loaded). Typically kits are comprised of leveling spacers which look like donuts or pucks which are installed on top of the front shocks to raise the front up. These kits range anywhere from $600-$900 installed depending on the brand and composition of the kit. Here is what a typical kit that we install looks like:
And the end result:
Notice the front is lifted only, eliminating the "rake" from factory.
Common Lift - 3-6 inches
For more specific offroad applications that require a bit more ground clearance or of course the need to create more space bigger wheel and tire packages, lots of folks like to invest on a complete suspension kit which includes shocks, springs, new leaf springs, u bolts, and often times control arms. These are for the more seroious offroader or for folks who may need custom shock absorbency for towing or hauling, and of course the ability to get larger tires and wheels to fit without rubbing. These kits run anywhere from $3000 to $7000 installed depending on brand. Brands include Kings, Icon Vehicle Dynamics, Bilstein, Fox, etc and look like this:
During Install it looks like this:
and when completed:
Higher Lifts - 6+ inches
Last but not least, there is the lesser installed 6inch + lift kit. These are very involved and for most of our customers installing these is to achieve a certain look, with a certain wheel and tire package. These kits range around $6000-$10000+ installed depending on brand. Here is an example of what we would install:
And the final result:
So, with all the options available, we encourage customers to decide on what their goals and use cases are so we can help build a kit together with you for your truck. It is definitely a process and picking and choosing the right kit is an investment. We recommend reading on forums to learn about other owner's experiences in hopes that it may give you insight to each brand/kit/part you are interested in. Some sites we recommend:
Tacoma - www.tacomaworld.com
Tundra - www.tundras.com
Silverado/Sierra - www.silveradosierra.com
RAM - https://www.ramforum.com/
F150 - www.f150forum.com/
Frontier - www.clubfrontier.org/
We apologize for the lengthy blog post, and yes we could have gone on and on, but hope this is a good starting point. Please feel free to call the shop with any questions or email us!